Wow! Why am I here - because Auto-trace is a feature I have grown to assume core in any Illustrator style vector program and was hunting to find...thinking its apparent absence was my not reading the interface correctly.
I've moved from a Full Adobe creative Studio subscription because I really could not justify the annual costs and in its place got Free Da Vinci Resolve for Video ( great) , Affinity Photo for Pixel work (Still learning, some niggles but at the price point I am very happy) and initially Inkscape, but found its UI so wretchedly archaic, I bought Affinity Designer... and uninstalled Inkscape.
Don't get me wrong, I think Designer has some fab and unexpected tools, many not replicated in the premium products , but as an ex-Corel and Illustrator user, a photographer and natural media artist, my start point on vector work has often been autotrace. That it is should be missing entirely - never mind monochrome I would expect colour as standard - ... .I am beyond shocked. Seriously, Affinity Designer, does not have the feature at all?
The argument that there is low priority in implementing any functionality that comes as standard in a cheaper tool (in this case free) simply because that tool does it perfectly well is beyond absurd.
Customer bulletin from "Rolls"
Dear Customer - we have today learned that you can buy a Nissan runabout with perfectly good air conditioning. With immediate effect, we shall no longer give high priority to developing air conditioning solutions for new models but would like to take this opportunity to reassure owners customers that the inclusion of wind-down windows is not affected.
For days of heat, customers are advised to install a Nissan Micra in their garage.